Robin Lillie and Jennifer Mack, bioarchaeologists in the Bioarchaeology Program at the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA), have won the prestigious 2017 Deetz Award from the Society for Historical Archaeology for their book, Dubuque’s Forgotten Cemetery: Excavating a Nineteenth-Century Burial Ground in a Twenty-First-Century City. The book was published in 2015 by University of Iowa Press.

The Society for Historical Archaeology, headquartered in Maryland, is the largest scholarly group concerned with the archaeology of the modern world (A.D. 1400–present).

The Deetz Award is named for James Deetz (1930–2000), whose books are classics for professional archaeologists, as well as for non-specialists. Deetz’s accessible and entertaining style of writing gave his books influence beyond the discipline. The Deetz Award is intended to recognize books and monographs that are similarly well written and accessible to all potential readers.

The Office of the State Archaeologist is part of the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, which provides resources and support to researchers and scholars at the University of Iowa and to businesses across Iowa with the goal of forging new frontiers of discovery and innovation and promoting a culture of creativity that benefits the campus, the state, and the world.